Category: 03 Environmental Degradation

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CounterPunch: Fukushima

03 Environmental Degradation, 07 Health, 07 Other Atrocities, 08 Proliferation

counterpunch squareFukushima – Deep Trouble

Robert Hunziker, CounterPunch, 22 February 2016

Imagine the following scenario: 207 million cardboard book boxes, end-to-end, circumnavigating Earth, like railroad tracks, going all the way around the planet. That’s a lot of book boxes. Now, fill the boxes with radioactive waste. Forthwith, that’s the amount of radioactive waste stored unsheltered in one-tonne black bags throughout Fukushima Prefecture, amounting to 9,000,000 cubic metres. But wait, there’s more to come, another 13,000,000 cubic metres of radioactive soil is yet to be collected. (Source: Voice of America News, Problems Keep Piling Up in Fukushima, Feb. 17, 2016).

See Also:

Radiation Reloaded: Ecological Impacts of the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Accident 5 Years Later (Greenpeace, March 2016)

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Worth a Look: Empire, Racism, and Genocide – A History of U.S. Foreign Policy

01 Poverty, 02 Infectious Disease, 03 Environmental Degradation, 04 Inter-State Conflict, 05 Civil War, 06 Genocide, 07 Other Atrocities, 08 Proliferation, 09 Terrorism, 10 Transnational Crime, IO Deeds of War, Peace Intelligence
Amazon Page
Amazon Page

In its entire history, there has been very little time when the United States has been at peace. As it wages its many wars and ‘interventions’, the stated goal is always something few people could argue with: fostering democracy when a struggling people are resisting tyranny, removing threats to U.S. security, or punishing a cruel dictator for unspeakable misdeeds.

Yet on closer scrutiny, these reasons are seldom valid. They simply hide the true purposes of U.S. military involvement, which are power and wealth. Starting with the barbarous destruction of Native American culture in order to gain farmlands, right through to the Iraqi invasion for oil, money and power have always motivated U.S. foreign policy decisions. Dictators with appalling records of human rights violations are upheld by the U.S.  if they agree to whatever economic or strategic demands the U.S. makes. Conversely, democratically elected leaders are overthrown if they don’t.

Continue reading “Worth a Look: Empire, Racism, and Genocide – A History of U.S. Foreign Policy”

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Adam Tucker: More Fish Than Plastic in Ocean by 2050?

03 Environmental Degradation
Adam Tucker
Adam Tucker

There Will Be More Plastic Than Fish in the Ocean by 2050

There will be more plastic than fish in the ocean by 2050, warned the Ellen MacArthur Foundation in a report published Tuesday. The report, The New Plastics Economy: Rethinking the Future of Plastics, was produced by the foundation and the World Economic Forum with analytical support from McKinsey & Company.

Continue reading “Adam Tucker: More Fish Than Plastic in Ocean by 2050?”

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Sepp Hasslberger: 15 Ships, Not Millions of Cars, Are Biggest Source of Pollution

03 Environmental Degradation
Sepp Hasslberger
Sepp Hasslberger

It seems that this would be one of the first things to change, if we were serious about cutting pollution…

World’s 15 Biggest Ships Create More Pollution Than All The Cars In The World

The problem isn’t necessarily with the ships’ 109,000-horsepower engines that endlessly spin away 24 hours a day, 280 days a year. In fact, these powerplants are some of the most fuel efficient units in the world. The real issue lies with the heavy fuel oil the ships run on and the almost complete lack of regulations applied to the giant exhaust stacks of these container ships.

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ALERT: Free Film Today and Tomorrow, “A Time to Choose” on Environmental Collapse and Alternatives

#Events, 03 Environmental Degradation
Greg Maybury
Greg Maybury

From   Director, Wall Street documentary ‘Inside Job'; Author, ‘Predator Nation'

For 48 hours starting at 9:30 am local time today, people around the world can watch and share Time To Choose, my latest documentary and a project I hope can help the world understand and address our common climate challenge.

Click on Time To Choose for free access 30 Nov – 1 Dec 2015.

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Mongoose: Brazil to Sue Samarco Mining for $5.2 Billion Over Dam Burst

03 Economy, 03 Environmental Degradation
Mongoose
Mongoose

The tide is turning. True cost economics is going to come into full force in the next decade.

Brazil to sue Samarco mining firm for $5.2bn over dam burst

“It is not a natural disaster, it is a disaster prompted by economic activity, but of a magnitude equivalent to those disasters created by forces of nature.” She said about 500km (310 miles) of the Rio Doce – one of Brazil's most important rivers – would have to be dredged in parts, vegetation replanted and fresh water springs cleared.